I Just Don't Get It
by Pinkbeauty63
Summary: 'Just Do It.' Is that really what people think of when they hear the word Nike? Have they even bothered to think about the name's back story? Even if that story included children? "All I know is that a certain god once told me, 'It's never too late to keep searching for the person you're trying to find.' Come to think of it, I still don't get what they were trying to tell me."
1. Prologue

**Hey, what's up guys! Thank you for clicking on this story, I am humbled by your presence. Anyway, I would like to make this real quick, I don't want you to waste your time by reading a long author's note. So, this story is about a teenage demigod, daughter of Nike, called Brittany Summer and you will be following the adventures (that's if you choose to follow/favourite this story, it's up to you) of her and her friends. **

**Also, if you happen to stop reading halfway through this prologue, I'm sorry - my bad. This prologue is set in the Last Olympian and the rest of the story is set in the Heroes of Olympus series. **

**(P.S. You guys are gonna get SHOCKED throughout the story) I AM A DISCLAIMER. I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS OR HEROES OF OLYMPUS, I ONLY OWN MY OC CHARACTERS. :'(**

**This is me, Pinkbeauty63, telling ****_you_**** to read!**

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><p><span><strong>BRITTANY<strong>

_**"MICHAEL! NO!" MY SISTER HAD SCREAMED,** watching Percy make the bridge collapse with his powers, into the river - along with Michael Yew. "No-"_

_"Kat, look out!" I heard Will Solace shout, as he quickly ran over to Kat. They both dived out of the way of Kronos' open fire._

_As the rest of the Apollo cabin disembarked from the broken bridge, all I could see that was left of Michael was his bow. _

_We all took one look back at the ruined bridge with Kronos' army on the other side, as Kat struggled to get away from Will's grip, bawling her eyes out. Her face was red from all the tears streaming down her face, but then we were all ordered to move out by Percy._

_It was then, that we all knew this wouldn't be the end of our losses._

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><p>"Percy!" I ran through the doors of Mount Olympus' throne room to see Percy standing over what looked like a slowly dying body. Look, I'm no child of Hades, but I know what a person looks like when they're inbetween the state of being alive and being dead.<p>

Percy didn't say anything, but he had realized that I'd just come through the doors. I walked over to them. As I got closer, I jumped in fright as I saw that the dying person was Luke Castellan. Holy Hera... I knew that inside Luke's body was Kronos, but there was something in his face that told me that Luke's soul had come back - other than the fact that both souls were on the verge of dying right now.

I stood next to Percy when Luke started to say something.

"You can't...can't do it by yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can...can keep him controlled." He told Percy.

At this rate, Luke was most definitely glowing now; his skin had started to smoke.

I turned to Percy, taking a step back, as he raised Annabeth's knife, ready to strike. I went over to where Grover was; he was cradling Annabeth in his arms, trying to shield her from the horrors that were to come next.

"Please," I heard Luke groan. "No time."

I realized that if Kronos were to evolve into his true form, there be absolutely no way of stopping him. If he did, he'd make Typhon out there look like a playground bully.

But then something bizarre had happened: Percy had given Luke the knife.

Grover yelped, "Percy? Are you...um..."

He didn't answer him as we watched Luke grasp the hilt of the knife.

Percy stood there completely defenceless.

I went back over to Percy and kneeled next to Luke. He unlatched the side of his armour and exposed a small bit of his skin just under his left arm; a place that no one would guess for a mark of Achilles. I watched in horror as he slowly held the knife over it, and stabbed it. I gasped and looked away as Luke let out a howl of pain.

I looked back as his eyes started to glow like lava. The whole throne room had started to shake, making me go off-balance, as well as knocking Percy off his feet. There was an aura of energy surrounding Luke, growing extremely bright. I quickly dived for cover as Percy tried to get back up. I shut my eyes and felt a force as if a nuclear explosion took place in the middle of the throne room.

It went really quiet for a long time.

I opened my eyes to see Luke sprawled at the hearth. There was a black circle of ash around him on the floor.

Luke's left side was bleeding from the gash he'd made. His eyes were open - this time they were blue, the way they were naturally. Every time he breathed, it took the sound of a deep rattle.

"Good... blade," he croaked, staring up at the ceiling.

Me and Percy knelt next to him. Annabeth limped over with the help of Grover. We all seemed to have tears in our eyes except for Percy.

And that's when the whole forgiving and apologizing thing took place. Luke had said he regretted what he had done, and said sorry for all the terrible things he did. He also said something important to Percy (the rest of us didn't hear what he said) but then... his body whole body went slack.

A few minutes later the gods had arrived, wearing their full war regalia, storming into the throne room expecting a battle.

What they did find were Annabeth, Percy, Grover and I standing over a broken demigod's body, in the dim warm light of the hearth.

"Percy," Poseidon called to his son, with awe in his voice. "What...what is this?"

We turned to face the Olympians.

"We need a shroud," Percy answered, his voice cracking. "A shroud for the son of Hermes."

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><p>After we had mourned over the loss of Luke, we were waiting for the gods to confide in us.<p>

As we were all standing/sitting/whatevering/helping to fix the throne room, Annabeth's knees had buckled. Percy had caught her, but she cried out in pain as he did so. It looked like he had grabbed her broken arm.

"Oh gods," He said. I jogged over to help. "Annabeth, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," She said, passing out into our arms.

"Great. She passes out just as I come to help keep her standing. _Genius_." I say, holding up her left side whilst Percy took her right. Her left side was weighing down on my right leg, which had a really big gash from a poisoned arrow. Thing is, I don't actually feel the pain if I don't think about it - gods-dammit. I started thinking about it.

"She needs help!" Percy yelled.

"I've got this." Apollo stepped forward. His fiery armour was so bright that it was almost blinding, and his matching Ray Bans and perfect smile made him look like a male model for battle gear. "God of medicine, at your service."

He passed his hand over Annabeth's face and spoke an incantation. Immediately the purple bruises had faded. The cuts and scars vanished. Her arm had straightened, and she sighed in her sleep.

Apollo had a big grin on his face. I hope he didn't sense the arrow wound on my leg. I don't wanna be healed in front of twelve Olympian gods. It's too much pressure. I'd get stage fright.

"She'll be fine in a few minutes. Just enough time for me to compose a poem about victory: 'Apollo and his friends save Olympus.' Good, eh?"

"Thanks Apollo," Percy said. "I'll, um, let you handle the poetry."

Percy let me take a break from holding Annabeth, as I slowly staggered away from the gods and took out my cellphone. I wonder if I'd be able to ask Zeus for permission to use it here?

"Um... Lord Zeus?" I asked, walking back up to the gods. He looked surprised to be approached by such an undetermined demigod.

"Yes?" He asked curtly, although his voice still seemed to thunder throughout the room.

"I was just wondering if... I could make a real quick phone call to my father - uh, mortal father?" I don't know why, but I felt like if I said anymore, I would get an immediate lightning bolt to the head.

"Well... I don't see why not, seeming that you're at Mount Olympus. Go on, then." He answered, waving me off.

"Oh, thank you sir-"

"But make it quick."

"Y-yes sir." And I go over to where Grover was standing as I dial my dad's phone number.

After about three rings, my dad finally picked up.

_"Brittany! Where have you been!? Are you alright?"_ That was typical Dad. He's always paranoid about what I could be doing when I'm clearly a demigod, doing all sorts of demigod stuff.

"Hey Dad. I'm fine. I'm in Manhattan at the moment - well, I'm at Mount Olympus which is above Manhattan, but anyways... Where are you?"

_"I'm currently in Washington DC, doing some important documentation with some lieutenants, but I've got time. What's going on in New York?"_

You see, my dad is in the army, and I'm not just talking about any old army: I'm talking about the National Guard. Yeah... He's no celebrity, but at least he serves his country in a great way. Also, why I was using my phone instead of an Iris-message was because my dad still hasn't gotten used to it, plus I was out of gold drachmas.

"Well... You see, we sorta had a Titan War, I guess you could say..." I said slowly, wondering if the angry rant was gonna come any second now. Also, while I was talking, I could tell that everyone (including the gods) was listening in.

_"What do you mean, 'we sorta had a Titan War'?! How come I didn't hear about this ages ago!?"_ Yep. It came, alright.

"Dad, for starters; you're in Washington DC. Secondly, every single mortal in NYC fell under this weird sleeping spell, so there was no contact for anywhere else. Thirdly, you wouldn't have been able to see it anyway because you're a mortal!"

_"Hm... I guess those are some pretty valid reasons. But still, you should've at least told me that you were going back to Camp this summer instead of running off with your friends."_

Gods, my dad can be such a pain when he doesn't know any background information of a situation, whatsoever.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that. I should've told you, but seriously, I would have died if I didn't run off to Half-Blood Hill." I explained, trying make it sound more simple over the phone.

_"Well... At least you're okay now. And did you say you were at _Mount Olympus?!_"_

"Correction."

_"Okay. Just as long as you don't get vaporized by some god or anything... Anyways, how's your sister and your brother? Are they okay as well?"_

"Yeah Dad, they're fine. Kat is currently with Joe, I'm expecting."

_"Alright. Well, as long as you tell me these things, I won't get so mad. Well, I've got to get back to work. Just... you can Iris-message me or do what you have to do when you back to Camp. Just let me know if you're staying there for next year or not, okay?"_

"Sure thing, Dad."

_"Oh, and tell Kat and Joe that I said hi and that I love them both, alright? Love you. Stay safe"_

"I will. Love you too. Byee."

And that was the end of our phone call.

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><p><strong>That's the end for this one, folks! So, if you think you liked it, please reviewfavourite/follow this story. If you didn't think you liked this story, review/favourite/follow it anyway!**

**Please let me know if you want me to write some more, I'm currently on holidays so I literally have all the time in the world to update. **

**I hope you enjoyed this story, which really hasn't been much of a story so far and I will update very soon. (Sooner than you think)**

**Happy Reading! ;D**


	2. The New Arrivals & a Badger

**BRITTANY**

_CRASH._

"What was that?" I said, kneeling up from my bed to look out of the cabin window.

"I don't know." Joe called, running out of the bathroom to see what was going on. Apparently, he'd heard it too.

As I looked outside, I could see at least twenty campers milling around, seeing what the commotion was about.

I quickly made my way my outside and flew over to the lake. When I got there, I saw the wreckage of what looked like the Apollo cabin's chariot, which would not make Will Solace very happy.

"Annabeth!" And as if right on cue, Will pushed his way through the crowd and stood beside me. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth was standing on the the edge of the lake, along with Butch from the Iris cabin and what seemed to be three other demigods I didn't know. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

Will scowled at his broken chariot. He then sized up the three unknown demigods standing before us. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" The short one with curly brown hair asked. I'll just call him curly-kid.

Before Annabeth could say anything more, I just had to ask, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth admitted.

All the other campers began to mutter. This is gonna be another crappy week with Annabeth in a bad mood.

After a few moments, the Aphrodite cabin's counselor, Drew Tanaka, stepped forward. Ugh, I hated her.

"Well," Drew said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

Curly-kid snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?" Hehehe, this guy was funny.

"No kidding," Said the blonde guy whom was standing next to señor curly-hair. "How about some answers before you start judging us - like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?" This guy wasn't very funny.

"Jason," Annabeth called him, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew-" she turned towards the annoyance that we call a counselor- "all demigods are worth saving. But I must admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I had hoped."

"Hey," said the girl standing between Jason and curly-kid, "we didn't _ask_ to be brought here."

Drew sniffed at the girl's statement. "And nobody _wants_ you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?" For the gods' sakes, this was getting ridiculous. Before the girl could retaliate to Drew, I stepped forward.

"Hey Drew, why does your _face_ always look like a dead badger?" I suddenly felt a plan hatch in my head. I looked over at the crowd whilst Drew was questioning my accusation, when I spotted whom I was looking for: Lou Ellen. Just the person I needed.

"Hey Lou," I called her over, as she made her way to the front. I quickly whispered something in her ear, as Drew was waiting for a response. The both of us turned towards the glamour girl and knew what we were planning to do.

"Oh - um... Yes?" I said, not knowing what Drew had asked me, so I just took a guess.

"I said; do you _know_ who you're talking to?" In this case, I would've answered the question just fine. "What do I look like to you, _Summer?_"

"To me, you look like _this_," And I gave Lou Ellen the signal.

Lou raised her hands into a small circular motion and her eyes began to glow a different color. I could tell she was concentrating on a spell. Everyone watched as Drew Tanaka's perfect Aphrodite-esque facial features got turned into a furry, pointed snout of an actual honey badger.

Everyone started laughing their heads off at her as she put on a look of 'shock'. She felt her face with her still-human hands and screamed.

"What did you _do_ to me?!" Oh. She still had that whiny voice. Oh well, that didn't matter.

"Why don't you go have a look in your mirror? Maybe that'll give you a clue." Answered Lou.

We both high-fived each other as everyone watched Drew run off back to Greek Row. Oh, what a surprise they'll get in the Aphrodite cabin.

"Hahaha, that was amazing! How did you do that!?" Said the girl I was trying to shield from Drew's wrath.

"Lou's a daughter of Hecate. The goddess of magic. You can also include witchcraft, crossroads, the Mist, sorcery, trivial knowledge and necromancy. It's up to you." I said.

"Trivia," Said Jason.

"Well, Trivia's her _Roman_ counterpart," Lou said.

"Cool." Said curly-kid.

The crowd then cleared off, including Lou Ellen; which only left me, Annabeth, Will, Butch, Jason and the other two half-bloods standing near the lake.

"You do realize that you are gonna get into _so_ much trouble when Chiron hears about this?" Asked Annabeth, her arms folded.

"Eh. It was totally worth Drew's reaction. Lou told me that the spell should only last a couple hours... However, she did say that she learnt it last week, so it might last a few more days," I explained.

"Hey, what's your name anyways?" I asked the girl who standing in the middle of the new trio.

"Piper." She answered.

"Hm... nice." I nodded.

Annabeth started to move on to the next subject.

"Well, we need to make our new arrivals feel welcome-"

"Already did that-" I cut her off.

"No you didn't." She said pointing a glare at me.

She continued. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of the camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what _claimed_ means?" Piper asked.

As soon as Piper said that, we all gasped at what we saw. Floating over curly-kid's head was the holographic image of the all too-familiar, fiery red hammer.

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming.

"What'd I do?" Said curly-kid as he backed toward the lake. He glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol kept bobbing up and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in the air with his head in flames.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse-"

"Butch, shut your face," I said, turning to curly-kid. "Dude, you've just been claimed-"

"-by a god," Jason interrupted, whilst I made Butch go back to his cabin. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Curly-kid demanded. "I don't even LIKE _Star Trek_. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."

By then, the fiery hammer faded, but 'shorty' kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of _what?_ Who?"

I sighed. "Pay attention!" I rolled my eyes at how annoying this guy was starting to get.

Annabeth turned to Will. "Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine."

"Sure Annabeth." So... Leo. That's his name. That just made my life a whole lot easier.

"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.

Annabeth turned her attention back to Jason. She then said, "Hold out your arm."

Whoa. What we saw on Jason's arm was weird. About a dozen straight lines were darkly etched on his arm like a bar code, and over that was an eagle with the letters SPQR.

"I've never seen marks like that," I said. "Did someone try to buy you or something? Where'd you get them from?"

Jason just shook his head. "I'm getting real tired of saying this, but I don't know."

"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.

"They were," Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean... I think so. I don't recall it happening..."

Nobody said anything. It was very clear to see what had to be done, according to Annabeth.

"He needs to go straight to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Brittany, would you-"

"What?! Why me?!" I asked, my face in shock. "Is this just another way of turning me in to Chiron for making Drew's face look like a badger?"

"Just go."

I glared at Annabeth, looking at her cold grey eyes. She won the staring contest.

"Fine." I turned to Jason, who looked as if he was intimidated by me not wanting to give him a tour. "Come on, 'barcode'. I'll show you our director. He's a bit of a funny guy, but you'll get used to him."

"Um... okay."

I cast one more look at Annabeth before getting waved off.

"To the Big House we go."

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><p><strong>Well, that was interesting. I hope it was interesting enough to get you guys more intrigued with the story because right now, it's a really big flop.<strong>

**So, I hope you found that first chapter good and I will update soon.**

**(Please review, favourite, and follow. The gods would appreciate it)**

**Happy Reading! ;D**


	3. A Centaur in a Wheelchair

**(Hey guys, just letting you know before you read, I've had to use some dialogue and other descriptions with some help from the books - obviously I've tried to put them in my own words - just so everyone knows: I am a DISCLAIMER for the known dialogue that belongs to Rick Riordan)**

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><p><strong><span>JASON<span>**

**AS SOON AS I SAW THE **house, I knew I was a dead man.

"We're here," Brittany said in a simple manner. "Welcome to the Big House, camp headquarters."

It didn't look very threatening, just a four-story manor painted baby blue with a white trim. The wraparound porch had lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. There were wind chimes shaped like nymphs that turned into trees as they spun. I could just imagine old people coming here for their summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watched the sunset. The door-way was wide open, looking ready to swallow me up. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and was pointing straight towards my direction, as if it was telling me to turn around.

I could feel every molecule in my body telling me that I was on enemy ground.

"I am _not_ supposed to be here," I said.

Brittany turned to face me. "Why? You scared? Dude, don't worry. I've seen a lot of heroes. I'm pretty sure you're not going to die."

Brittany had the looks of a normal, California dream-girl. Her skin was lightly tanned which made her look like she works out about five times a week. She still managed to look slim, but lean. She was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt like everyone else, except it was totally strapless... and partially backless. Her blonde hair captured the sunlight, complimenting her olive green eyes... but what did get my attention was that olive coloured circlet and the two wing tattoos on her wrists. One wing for each arm. Nevertheless, she still made me feel a bit uncomfortable with that constant look of determination on her face. It was as if she was strategizing how to beat me in a running race.

"Hey... just out of curiosity... who's your godly parent?" I blurted out without thinking, pointing at her tattoos.

Her face hardened at my question. She now looked like she was ready to break my neck in a boxing match.

She waited a few seconds before turning her gaze away from me, "I-I don't really like talking about it..."

"Oh, no. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay." We stood there in silence as I thought about which god would just suddenly act out like that. Ares? Athena?

"My mother is Nike," Brittany said, as if she just read my mind.

"Victoria-"

"-is her Roman name."

"...did something happen?" I was starting to get the feeling that if I said anything more, she would get a metal baseball bat and go on a Nike victory run... with my head.

I wasn't forcing Brittany to tell me this, but it looked like she hadn't talked about this for a long time.

"My mother... she didn't claim me or any of my siblings until Percy Jackson, Annabeth's boyfriend, made the gods promise to claim all their children when they turned thirteen. Even though I'm sixteen, I only got claimed just last year..."

Wow, so this girl _did_ have a reason why she was so competitive.

I let her continue. "Nike's the Winged Goddess of Victory. That's when these tattoos come in," she held out her forearms and when she placed them together, they looked like a proper pair of wings.

"She assumes the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often portrayed in Classical Greek art. You can also include other things like, her being the goddess of speed and strength. She was a very close acquaintance of Athena, which pretty much explains why I hang out with Annabeth all the time."

As Brittany told me all these facts about about her mother, I started to feel more nervous than I did before. This girl was the spitting image of sport, strength _and_ brains.

Since I had been thinking a lot about what she was saying, I just stood there without talking, and apparently she'd noticed. "Hey... are you okay?"

"Oh - what? Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. Truth was, my brain was going haywire right now. I had to change the subject.

"So, what was with that Drew girl? I mean, sure she was being pretty nasty but, turning her face into a badger's?" I asked.

"Well, whenever there's a problem involving _her_, I intend to solve it - the best way possible, obviously.

"Ugh, I can't believe I used to go to the same school as her: the Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted. I had to beg my dad to let me move away. After a good deal of convincing, he finally let me transfer to this place called MS-54, which was a coincidence because Percy Jackson went there the same time I did - but that's a story for another time. In fact, I only went there for about a year before becoming a year-rounder at camp."

Hm... her life wasn't boring, that's for sure. I then began to notice that she wasn't looking at me entirely when she spoke. She was staring straight above my head.

"You're waiting for a sign," I guessed. "Like what popped over Leo's head."

"What? No! Well... yeah. I mean, from what I've heard, you're pretty powerful, right? You're going to be important at camp. I figure your parent will claim you straight away." Brittany said.

I didn't know what to say to that. I'm guessing she noticed the blank look on my face.

"So, who's your godly parent? Please don't tell me it's your mom. I wouldn't like it if you were a _Nike_ kid."

"Why?"

"Then you'd be my half-brother. Sons of Nike can be a _really_ big pain in the butt. They're even bigger pains than sons of Ares. And trust me, _they're bad_. Plus, one of my half-sister's might actually find you cute. And daughters of Nike are _always_ competitive when it comes to boyfriends. And everyone knows that you can't date someone from your own cabin. Gross."

"But aren't all gods related?" I asked. "So isn't everyone here your cousin or something?"

"Well, you're a funny guy," Brittany said sarcastically. "The godly side of your family doesn't count except for your mortal parent. You see, the gods don't have DNA. So, if... a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus got together, that's perfectly fine. But if perhaps, a son of Apollo were to start dating a daughter of Apollo... that's practically incest. So, don't do it."

Wow, she must watch a lot of _Law & Order: SVU_.

"Alrighty then," was all I could muster.

"So, who's your godly parent - mom or dad?"

As usual, I didn't have an answer. I looked up, but no glowing sign popped above my head. At the top of the Big House, the weathervane was still pointing in my direction. That bronze eagle was glaring as if to say, _Turn around, kid, while you still can._

I then heard footsteps on the front porch. No - not footsteps - hooves.

"Chiron!" Brittany called. "This is Jason. He's not much of a talker, but, he's cool."

I backed up so fast I almost tripped. Rounding the corner of the porch was a man on horseback - except he was actually part of the horse. From the waist up he appeared human, with curly brown hair and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a T-shirt that said _World's Best Centaur,_ and had a quiver and brow strapped to his back. His head was so high up he had to duck to avoid the porch lights, because from the waist down, he was a white stallion.

He started to smile at me. Then the color drained from his face.

"You..." The centaur's eyes flared like a cornered animal's. "You should be dead."

"Well, that's lovely." Brittany said.

* * *

><p>Chiron ordered me - well, <em>invited<em>, but it sounded like an order - to come inside the house. He told Brittany to come along as well, which she didn't look too happy about. I'm guessing she doesn't want Chiron to know about the deforming of Drew's face.

The centaur trotted over to the empty wheelchair on the porch. He slipped off his quiver and bow and backed up to the chair, which opened up like a magician's box. Chiron gingerly stepped into it with his back legs and began scrunching himself into a space that should've been way too small. I started imagining a truck's reversing noises - _beep, beep, beep _- as the centaur's lower half disappeared and the chair folded up, popping out a set of fake human legs covered in a blanket. Right now, Chiron appeared to be a regular mortal guy sitting in a wheelchair.

"Follow me," he ordered. "We have lemonade."

The living room looked like it got swallowed by a rain forest. Grapevines curved up the walls and across the ceiling, which I found a little bit strange. I didn't think that plants grew inside, especially in the winter, but these plants were green and bursting with bunches of red grapes.

Leather couches were facing a stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Wedged into one corner, was an old-school Pac-Man arcade game, which beeped and blinked. Mounted onto the walls was an assortment of masks - the smiley/frowny Greek theater types, feathered _Mardi Gras _masks, Venetian _Carnevale_ masks with big beak-like noses, and carved wooden masks from Africa. The grapevines had grown through their mouths so it seemed like they had leafy tongues. Some even had red grapes bulging through their eyeholes.

But what I found particularly strange was the stuffed leopard's head above the fireplace. It looked so real, its eyes seemed to follow me wherever I went. Then it snarled, making me almost leap out of my skin.

"Now, Seymour," Chiron chided. "Jason is a friend. Behave yourself."

"That thing is alive!" I said, my heart beating really fast.

Meanwhile, Brittany just stood there with her arms folded, as if this stuff happened everyday.

Chiron rummaged through the side pocket of his wheelchair and brought out a packet of Snausages. He threw one to the leopard, who just snapped it up and licked his lips.

"You must excuse the décor," Chiron said. "All of this was a parting gift from our old director before he was recalled to Mount Olympus. He thought it would help us to remember him. Mr. D has a strange sense of humor."

"Mr. D," I said, looking over at Brittany whom just nodded. "Dionysus?"

"Mmm hmm." Chiron poured some lemonade, though his hands were shaking a little. "As for Seymour, well, Mr. D liberated him from a Long Island garage sale. The leopard is Mr. D's sacred animal, you see, and Mr. D was appalled that someone would stuff such a noble creature. He decided to grant it life, assuming that life as a mounted head was better than no life at all. I must say it's a kinder fate than what Seymour's previous owner got."

Seymour bared his fangs and sniffed the air, as if he was hunting for Snausages.

"If he's only a head," I asked, "where does all the food end up when he eats?"

I saw that Brittany was shaking her head at me, probably trying to tell me not to ask such stupid questions.

"Better not to ask," Chiron said. "Please, sit."

Brittany and I took some lemonade and sat down on one of the couches. Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and tried for a smile, but I could tell it was forced. The old man's eyes were as deep and dark as wells.

"So, Jason," he said, "would you mind telling me - ah - where you came from?"

"I wish I knew." I told him the whole story; from waking up on the bus to crash-landing at Camp Half-Blood (being extra careful not to include the Drew incident). There wasn't any point in hiding the details, plus Chiron was a good listener. He didn't react to the story, other than to nod encouragingly for more.

When I was done, the old man sipped on his lemonade whilst sharing a worried look with Brittany.

"I see," Chiron said. "And you must have questions for me."

"Only one," I admitted. "What did you mean when you said I should be dead?"

Chiron studied me with concern, as if he was expecting me to burst into flames. "My boy, do you know what those marks on your arm mean? The color of your shirt? Do you remember anything?"

I looked down at my tattoo on my forearm: SPQR, the eagle, and twelve straight lines.

"No," I said. "Nothing."

"Do you know where you are?" Chiron asked. "Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?"

"You're Chiron the centaur," I said. "I'm guessing you're the same one from the old stories, who used to train the Greek heroes like Heracles. This is a camp for demigods, children of the Olympians." I tried not to look at Brittany as she gave me a pointed look for saying 'the Olympians' only.

"So you believe those gods still exist?"

"Yes," I said immediately. "I mean, I don't think we should _worship_ them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they're still around because they're a powerful part of civilization. They move from country-to-country as the center of power shifts - like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome."

"Gods, stop being so smart." Said Brittany.

_"I couldn't have said it better myself."_ As well as ignoring Brittany's remark, something about Chiron's voice had changed. _"So you already know the god's are real. You have already been claimed, haven't you?"_

_"Maybe,"_ I answered. _"I'm not really sure."_

Seymour the leopard snarled, and Brittany gasped in shock, almost spilling her lemonade.

Chiron waited, and then I realized what had just happened. The centaur had switched to another language and I had understood, automatically answering in the same tongue.

_"Quis erat-"_ I faltered, then made a conscious effort to speak English. "What was that?"

"You know Latin," Chiron observed. "Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It's in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. No one can speak Latin fluently without any practice."

I tried to wrap my mind around what that meant, but too many pieces were missing from my memory. Brittany had inched away from me on the sofa. Instead of having a look of determination on her face, her eyes were filled with worry. It was as if she thought I was gonna jump up and attack her or something. I still couldn't shake off the feeling that I wasn't supposed to be here. It was wrong - and dangerous. But at least Chiron wasn't threatening. In fact, the centaur seemed concerned for me, afraid for my safety.

The fire reflected in Chiron's eyes, making them dance fretfully. "I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason. He had a hard path. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don't. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you - you are not like any pupil I've ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster."

"Thanks," I said. "You must be an inspiring teacher.

"I am sorry, my boy. But it's true. I had hoped that after Percy's success-"

"Percy Jackson. You mean Annabeth's boyfriend, the one who's missing."

Chiron nodded. "I hoped that after he succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better-"

"Chiron, don't say that." Brittany said with a sad, worried look on her face.

"The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come." He looked at me and Brittany with those sad eyes.

In the corner, the arcade game made a sad _pew-pew-pew-pew _sound, like one of the Pac-Man's just died.

"Ohh-kay," I said. "So - last chapter, happened before, worst is yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we get back to the part where I'm supposed to be dead?"

Brittany was giving me a death-glare, signalling me to shut up.

"I'm afraid I can't explain, my boy. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never..." Chiron frowned. "But you're here, in violation of the same oath. That too, should not be possible. I don't understand. Who would've done such a thing? Who-"

Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth froze, half open. The arcade game stopped beeping. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardening like red glass. The masks mounted on the walls stared down at me with their grotesque grape eyes and leafy tongues.

"Chiron?" I asked. "What's going-"

The old centaur had frozen, too.

"Brittany?" I said, waving my hand in front of her face.

I jumped off the couch, but Chiron and Brittany kept staring at the same spot, Chiron's mouth open in mid-sentence. Their eyes didn't blink. Their chests didn't move.

_Jason_, a voice said.

For a horrible moment, I thought that the creepy leopard had spoken. Then dark mist began to boil out of Seymour's mouth, and and an even worse thought occurred to me: _storm spirits._

I quickly grabbed my golden coin from my pocket. With a quick flip, it turned into a sword.

The mist took the shape of a woman in black robes. Her face was concealed under a hood, although her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders she wore a goatskin coat. I didn't even know how I knew it was goatskin, but I recognized it and immediately knew it was important.

_Would you attack your patron?_ the woman chided. Her voice echoed inside my head. _Lower your sword._

"Who are you?" I demanded. "How did you-"

_Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I've managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you._

"You're in prison?" I decided maybe I shouldn't lower my sword. "Look, I don't know you, and you're not my patron."

_You know me,_ she insisted. _I have known you since your birth._

"I don't remember. I don't remember anything."

_No, you don't,_ she agreed. _That was also necessary. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favourite mortal. You belong to me._

"Whoa," I said. "I don't belong to anyone."

_Now is the time to pay for your debt,_ she said. _Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory._

"Is that a threat? You _took_ my memories?"

_You have until sunset on the solstice, Jason. Four short days. Do not fail me._

The dark woman dissolved, and the mist curled into the leopard's mouth.

Time unfroze. Seymour's howl had turned into a cough like he'd sucked in a hair ball. The fire crackled to life, the arcade machine beeped, Brittany sipped her lemonade and Chiron said, "-would dare to bring you here?"

"Probably the lady in the mist," I offered.

Brittany and Chiron looked surprised.

"What the heck-"

"Weren't you just sitting... why do you have a sword drawn?" Chiron said.

"I hate to tell you this," I said, "but I think your leopard just ate a goddess."

"Well, _that's_ a first," Brittany answered.

I told them both about the frozen-in-time visit, the dark misty figure that disappeared into Seymour's mouth.

"Oh dear," Chiron murmured. "That does explain a lot."

"Then why don't you explain a lot to me?" I said. "Please."

Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door swung open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper's head lolled like she was unconscious.

"What happened?" I rushed over to them, Brittany at my side.

"Hera's cabin," Annabeth gasped, as if they'd run all the way. "Vision. Bad."

"Man, I can't _wait _until the day I finally see that goddess' head on a spit," said Brittany. I'm guessing she didn't like Hera very much.

The redheaded girl looked up and I saw that she'd been crying.

"I think..." The redheaded girl gulped. "I think I may have killed her."

* * *

><p><strong>Whoa, end of the chapter! If you've already read the Lost Hero, don't count on it so much for this story, because I'm having Brittany do other things... such as a<strong>**_ quest/mission thingy. _****And it's not gonna be just any old quest, it's gonna have something to do with her mother, and the gods of Olympus, so****_ be prepared._**

**I hope you liked that chapter; please review, favourite and follow and-**

**Happy Reading! ;D**


	4. Romans, Greeks & Sleep

**Hey, just before you guys start reading, I would just like to give a shout-out to the readers that favourited my story, and they would be: ****_amycahill57_**** and ****_xjessssx43. _****Whether it was by accident or you actually like this story, I thank you. **

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**Warning: This is gonna be a pretty long chapter so you might wanna like, you know, get something to eat while you're at it. :)**

**This is me, Pinkbeauty63, telling _you_ to read on. ;D**

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><p><strong><span>BRITTANY<span>**

**JASON AND RACHEL PUT PIPER ON **the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a med kit. Piper was still breathing, but she wouldn't wake up. She seemed to be in some sort of coma.

"We've got to heal her," Jason insisted. "There's a way, right?"

"Of course there's a way," I said assuringly.

Seeing Piper so pale, barely breathing, made me feel uneasy. I looked over at Jason who stood by Piper like the protective boyfriend he was assumed to be.

Chiron put his hand on Piper's forehead and grimaced. "Her mind is in a fragile state."

"Rachel, what happened?" I asked.

"I wish I knew," she said. "As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera's cabin. I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then - I just blanked out. Annabeth said I spoke in some different voice."

"A prophecy?" Chiron asked.

"No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me."

Annabeth ran in with a leather pouch. She knelt next to Piper. "Chiron, what happened back there - I've never seen anything like it. I've heard Rachel's prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman. She grabbed Piper's shoulders and told her-"

"To free her from a prison?" Jason guessed.

Annabeth stared at him. "How did you know that?"

Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, like a ward against evil.

"Jason, Brittany; explain to them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please."

Chiron trickled drops from a medicine vial into Piper's mouth while Jason explained (there wasn't really much for me to explain) what had happened when the room froze - the dark misty woman who had claimed to be Jason's patron. When he was done, nobody spoke, which made everything awkward.

"So, does this happen often?" he asked. "Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you to bust them out of jail?"

"Your patron," Annabeth said. "Not your godly parent?"

"No, she said _patron_. She also said my dad had given her my life."

Annabeth frowned. "I've never heard of anything like that before. You said the storm spirit on the skywalk - he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your head?"

"I don't think so," Jason said.

I then spoke up. I just had to. "If that lady were his enemy, why would she be asking for his help? She's imprisoned. She's obviously worried about some enemy getting more powerful. What was it again? Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice-"

Annabeth turned to me and Chiron. "Not Kronos. Please tell me it's not that."

"I hope not! The last time Kronos was alive, all _Hades_ went down. Even though the Titan is presumed to be dead, Hermes said that we shouldn't think he is." I explained.

I looked over at Chiron who looked miserable. He held Piper's wrist, checking her pulse.

At last he said, "It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But..."

"But what?" Me and Annabeth said.

Chiron closed the medicine bag. "Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later."

"Or now," Jason said impatiently. "Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told me that the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can't possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?"

"Oh," Rachel said in a small voice. "Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment."

"Wait. Your patron's _Hera? _Ew!" I said in disgust. I must say, I do hate some people in the world, but Hera is extremely close to topping my list.

"Hera?" Annabeth's snarl was even fiercer than Seymour's. "She took you over? She did this to Piper?"

"I think Rachel's right," Jason said. "The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this - this goatskin cloak. That's a symbol of Juno, isn't it?"

"It is?" Annabeth scowled. "I've never heard of that."

"Great. She's unfashionable _and_ she can possess Rachel. That's perfect," I said, my arms crossed.

Chiron nodded at us reluctantly. "Of Juno, Hera's Roman aspect, in her most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier."

"So Hera is imprisoned?" Rachel asked. "Who could do that to the queen of the gods?"

Annabeth crossed her arms and stood beside me. "Well, whoever they are, maybe we should thank them."

We both high-fived at that.

"If they can shut up Hera-" I started.

"Brittany," Chiron waved, "she is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods' family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world as we know it. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. And if Hera has asked Jason for help-"

"Fine," Annabeth and I grumbled.

"Well, we know Titans can capture a god right?" Annabeth said.

"Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago." I said.

"And in the old stories, the gods captured each other in traps all the time," Annabeth explained. "But something worse than a Titan...?"

I looked over at Seymour. He was smacking his lips like the goddess would've tasted much better than a Snausage.

"Hera said she'd been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month," Jason said.

"Which is how long Olympus has been closed," Annabeth said. "So the gods must know something's up."

"But why use her energy to send me here?" Jason asked. "She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip, and sent you a dream vision to come and pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send up an emergency flare to the other gods - let them know where she is so they can bust her out?"

"The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth," Rachel said. "That's right, isn't it?"

I nodded in agreement. "Their fates are always intertwined with demigods."

"That's true," Annabeth said, "but Jason's got a point. Why him? Why take his memory?"

"And don't forget, Piper's involved somehow," I said.

"Hera sent her the same message - _Free me,_" said Rachel.

"And, Annabeth, this must have something to do with Percy's disappearance." I said hesitantly.

Annabeth fixed her eyes on Chiron. "What about you Chiron? Why are you so quiet? What is it we're facing?"

The old centaur's face looked like it had aged about ten years in a matter of minutes. The lines around his eyes were deeply etched. "My dear, in this, I cannot help you. I am so sorry."

Well, this was surprising. Annabeth blinked. "You've never... you've _never _kept information from us. Even the last great prophecy-"

"I will be in my office." His voice was heavy. "I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, Brittany; will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the infirmary, if you'd like. And Annabeth, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about - about the Greek and Roman gods."

"But..."

The centaur turned his wheelchair and rolled off down the hallway. Annabeth's eyes turned stormy.

"I'm sorry," Jason said. "I think me being here - I don't know. I've messed things up by coming here, somehow. Chiron said he'd sworn an oath and couldn't talk about it."

"What oath?" Annabeth demanded, looking from me to Jason. "I've never seen him act this way. And why would he tell me to talk to you about the gods..."

Her voice trailed off. Apparently, she'd only just noticed Jason's sword sitting on the coffee table. She touched the blade gingerly, as if it might've been hot.

"Is this gold?" she asked. "Do you remember where you got it from?"

"No," Jason said. "Like I said, I don't remember anything."

Annabeth nodded at me and then shared an almost telepathic look, before turning back to Jason. "If Chiron won't help, we'll need to figure things out ourselves. Which means... Brittany!" I knew she was gonna pick me. "Cabin Fifteen. Seeming that it's closer to your cabin and you and Jason are practically best buds now."

"Sure," I said with no enthusiasm, whatsoever.

"Rachel, you'll keep an eye on Piper?" Annabeth turned towards our fellow redhead.

"I will," Rachel promised. "Good luck, you guys."

"I've got to go deal with some other things." And like that, Annabeth walked out the door of the Big House. I'm guessing she was gonna do more research on that laptop that Daedalus gave her.

"Hold on," Jason said. "What's in Cabin Fifteen?"

I went over towards the door, Jason following suit. "Possibly a way to get your memory back."

* * *

><p>We headed toward one of the newer wings of cabins in the southwest corner of the green at Greek Row. Some were fancy (including mine), with glowing walls or blazing torches, but Cabin Fifteen was not so dramatic. This particular cabin always looked like an old-fashioned prairie house with mud walls and a rush roof. On the door hung a wreath of crimson flowers - red poppies<p>

"You think this is my parent's cabin?" Jason asked. I almost laughed.

"Gods no," I said. "This is the cabin for Hypnos, the god of sleep."

Then why-"

"You've forgotten everything," I said. "If there's any god who can help us figure out memory loss, it's Hypnos."

Inside the cabin were three campers sound asleep under piles of covers. A warm fire crackled in the hearth. Around the mantel hung that same tree branch, each twig dripping its usual white liquid into the collection of tin bowls. I could tell that Jason was holding himself back to catch a drop on his finger. That's how I felt the first time I visited this cabin.

Soft violin music played from somewhere, I never found out where, though. The air here always smelt of fresh laundry for some reason. I then noticed that Jason was starting to drift off.

"Snap out of it." I nudged him.

He blinked several times, realizing that his knees had started to buckle.

"Cabin Fifteen does that to everyone," I said. "If you ask me, this place is even more dangerous than the Ares cabin. At least over there, you can learn where the land mines are."

"Land mines?"

Ignoring Jason's question, I walked up to the nearest snoring kid and shook his shoulder. "Clovis! Wake up!"

I couldn't help but think how much this kid looked like a baby cow. He had a blonde tuft of hair on a wedge-shaped head, with thick features and a thick neck. His body was stocky, but he had those spindly little arms like he'd never lifted anything that weighed more than a pillow.

"Clovis!" I shook harder, then knocked on his forehead about six times

"Wh-wh-what?" Clovis complained, sitting up and squinting. He yawned hugely, making me and Jason yawn too.

"Stop that!" I said. "We need your help."

"I was sleeping."

"No shit Sherlock, you're _always_ sleeping." Jason looked shocked that I just swore in front of him.

"Good night."

Before Clovis could pass out, I yanked his pillow off the bed.

"Hey, that's not fair," Clovis complained meekly. "Give it back."

"First help," I ordered. "Then sleep."

He sighed. His breath smelled like warm milk. Gross. "Fine. What?"

I explained to him about Jason's problem. Every once in a while, I'd have to snap my fingers under Clovis' nose to keep him awake.

By the looks of it, Clovis was really excited, because when I was finished, he forgot to pass out. He actually stood and stretched, then blinked at Jason. "So you don't remember anything, huh?"

"Just impressions," Jason said. "Feelings like..."

"Yes?" Clovis asked.

"Like I know I shouldn't be here. At this camp. I'm in danger."

"Hmm. Close your eyes."

Jason glanced my way, but I nodded reassuringly.

He closed his eyes. As soon as he did, things started getting pretty intense. I began to notice that his figure was slowly starting to fade away, as if he were a wind spirit or something.

I looked over at Clovis, and he nodded at me as if he was thinking the same thing. We each took one side of Jason, and sat him in one of the chairs by the fireplace.

A few minutes later, his eyes snapped open. Clovis and I knelt next to him.

"This is serious, all right," Clovis said.

"What happened?" Jason asked. "How long-"

"Just a few minutes," I said. "But it was tense. You almost dissolved."

"Usually," Clovis said, "memories are lost for a good reason. They sink under the surface like dreams, and with a good sleep, I can bring them back. But this..."

"Lethe?" I asked.

"No," Clovis said. "Not even Lethe."

"Lethe?" Jason asked.

Clovis pointed towards the tree branch dripping the milky substance above the fireplace. "The River Lethe in the Underworld. It dissolves your memories, wipes your mind clean permanently. That's the branch of a poplar tree from the Underworld, dipped into the Lethe. It's the symbol of my father, Hypnos. Lethe is not a place you want to go swimming."

I nodded. "Percy had told me he went there once. He said it was powerful enough to wipe the mind of a Titan."

Jason suddenly looked glad that he didn't touch the branch. "But... that's not my problem, though."

"No," Clovis agreed. "Your mind wasn't wiped, and your memories weren't buried. They've been stolen."

The fire crackled. Drops of Lethe water plinked into the tin cups on the mantel. One of the other Hypnos campers muttered something in their sleep - something about a duck.

"Stolen," Jason said. "How?"

"A god," Clovis said. "Only a god would have that kind of power."

"We know that," Jason said. "It was Juno. But how did she do it, and why?"

Clovis scratched his neck. "Juno?"

"He means Hera," I said. "For some reason, Jason likes the Roman names."

"Hmm," Clovis said.

"What?" Jason asked. "Does that mean something?"

"Hmm," Clovis said, and this time we realized he was snoring.

"Clovis!" I yelled.

"What? What?" His eyes fluttered open. "We were talking about pillows, right? No, gods. I remember. Greek and Roman. Sure, could be important."

"But they're the same gods," I said. "Just different names."

"Not exactly," Clovis said.

Jason sat forward, now very much awake. "What do you mean, not exactly?"

"Well..." Clovis yawned. "Some gods are only Roman. Like Janus, or Pompona. But even the major Greek gods - it's not just their names that changed when they moved to Rome. Their appearances changed. Their attributes changed. They even had slightly different personalities."

"But..." I faltered. "Okay, so maybe people saw them differently through the centuries. That doesn't change who they are."

"Sure it does." Clovis began to nod off, and I snapped my fingers under his nose.

"Coming, Mother!" he yelped. "I mean... yeah, I'm awake. So, um, personalities. The gods change to reflect their host cultures. You know that, Brittany. I mean, these days, Zeus likes tailored suits, reality television, and that Chinese food place on East Twenty-eighth Street, right? It was the same in Roman times, and the gods were Roman almost as long as they were Greek. It was a big empire, lasted for centuries. So of course their Roman aspects are still a big part of their character."

"Makes sense," Jason said

I shook my head, mystified. "But how do you know all this, Clovis?"

"Oh, I spend a lot of time dreaming. I see the gods there all the time - always shifting forms. Dreams are fluid, you know. You can be in different places at once, always changing identities. It's a lot like being a god, actually. Like recently, I dreamed I was watching a Michael Jackson concert, and then I was onstage _with_ Michael Jackson, and we were singing this duet, and I could_ not r_emember the words for 'The Girl Is Mine'. Oh, man, it was so_ embarrassing_, I-"

"Clovis!" I interrupted. "Just think; you can dream about _moon-walking _with MJ... but in the meantime, can we please get back to Rome?"

"Right, Rome," Clovis said. "So we call the gods by their Greek names because that's their original form. But saying their Roman aspects are exactly the same - that's not true. In Rome, they become more warlike. They didn't mingle with mortals as much. They were harsher, more powerful - the gods of an empire."

"Like the dark side of the gods?" I asked.

"Not exactly," Clovis said. "They stood for discipline, honor, strength-"

"Good things, then," Jason said. I don't why he was so interested in the Romans. It was starting to freak me out a little bit. "I mean, discipline is important, right? That's what made Rome last so long."

Clovis gave him a curious look. "That's true. But the Roman gods weren't very friendly. For instance, my dad, Hypnos... he didn't do much except sleep in Greek times. In Roman times, they called him Somnus. He liked killing people who didn't stay alert at their jobs. If they nodded off at the wrong time, _boom -_ they never woke up. He killed the helmsman of Aeneas when they were sailing from Troy."

"Nice guy," I said. "But I still don't understand what it has to do with Jason."

"Neither do I," Clovis said. "But if Hera took your memory, only she can give it back. And if I had to meet the queen of the gods, I'd hope she was in more of a Hera mood than a Juno mood. Can I go back to sleep now?"

I stared at the branch above the fire, dripping the Lethe water into the cups. I was worried about what type of fate would occur at camp if all this Hera-stealing-Jason's-memory crap didn't get resolved. "Thanks, Clovis. We'll see you at dinner."

"Can I get room service?" Clovis yawned and stumbled to his bunk. "I feel like...zzz..." He collapsed with his butt in the air and his face buried in pillow.

"Won't he suffocate?" Jason asked.

"Nah, he'll be fine," I said. "But I'm beginning to think you're in serious trouble."

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><p><strong>End of the chapter guys! What did you think of that chapter? Was it too long, too boring or you were just sitting here, snoring your head off like Clovis? Well I'm sorry if it turned out like that for you guys. <strong>

**Also, because I'm using things from Heroes of Olympus (you are not a true Percy Jackson fan if you have not read at least the first two books), I don't want you guys to think that I'm just retelling the story; I just haven't gotten to the part where everything decides to change.**

**Anyways, soon I will be including some NICO DI ANGELO in the story, so be prepared. (Seriously, you should always have food with you whenever you read one of my chapters because they can be quite time consuming)**

**So, I hope you liked that chapter, and as always: feel free to review, favourite, follow and this time... SHARE. **

**Happy Reading! ;D**


	5. DREW IS STUPID

**WARNING: ****There will be quite a few curse words thrown around in this chapter. It's rated T for a reason.**

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><p><span><strong>BRITTANY<strong>

**ME, JASON, PIPER, RACHEL and ANNABETH** sat in the front row of the amphitheater. Annabeth, Rachel and I decided to sit with the Nike cabin (seeming as there wasn't many of us anyways) and helped make Jason and Piper not feel so intimidated by a crowd of people they didn't know. Leo was sitting with the rest of his new cabin mates from Cabin Nine. Standing in front of the campfire were half a dozen campers from the Apollo cabin, including Will. They were all jamming it up with their guitars and lyres. Everyone sung with them, and we made gestures to go along with the song as well. Honestly, one of these songs would've been embarrassing in daylight; but in the dark, with everybody participating, it was kind of corny and fun. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

Finally, the song ended with a lot of the usual rowdy applause. As the noise died down, Chiron trotted up the front. He brandished a spear impaled with his usual marshmallows he has every time there's a campfire. "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first-"

"What about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out amongst the Ares cabin.

"Yes," Chiron said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"And kill people!" one of them shouted.

"However," Chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

We all turned to the Hephaestus cabin. Leo winked at me and shot me with a finger gun. Ugh, _peasant_. Nyssa, a daughter of Hephaestus, stood up uncomfortably next to him. "We're working on it." I'm guessing they were talking about that robotic dragon.

More grumbling came from the crowd.

"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.

"Really hard," she talked back.

Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones - _bang, bang, bang_ - and everyone fell silent.

"We will have to be patient," Chiron said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" someone asked. What a dumb kid. The fire dimmed even further.

Chiron gestures towards Annabeth. She stood up and took a deep breath."I didn't find Percy," she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name. "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis - everyone's looking for him. We _will_ find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" Oh no. _Gods_, no. That stupid spell just _had_ to break in time for the campfire.

We all turned around. The voice had come from up the back: the Aphrodite cabin. They'd been chatting amongst themselves and haven't been paying much attention until that stupid skank stood up: Drew.

Everyone else looked surprised. _Everyone._

"Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, _come on_." Drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. Honestly, this girl pissed me off so bad, I pinched the bridge of my nose that hard in frustration, I swore I heard something crack. "Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with three demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"

Piper whispered to Rachel and I, "What's she talking about - the Great Prophecy?" Honestly, I couldn't concentrate. I was just imagining Drew getting high-fived. In the face. With a chair. Made of steel. Twice. By the Hulk. On an adrenaline rush.

I quickly snapped out of it and realized that everyone was looking at Rachel.

"Well?" Drew called down. "You're the oracle. Has it started or not?"

Rachel's eyes looked scary in the firelight. She slowly stepped forward and addressed the camp.

"Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy."

Pandemonium broke out.

I noticed that Piper and Jason were looking at each other over the raucous. I felt kind've sorry for them two, because they actually look cute together, but Hera messed that all up.

When the talking finally sub-sided, Rachel took another step toward the audience, and about fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her. I just stayed where I was.

"For those of you who have not heard it," Rachel said, "the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this:

_"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall-"_

Suddenly, Jason shot to his feet. His eyes looked wild, like he'd just been tasered.

Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. "J-Jason?" she said. "What's-"

_"Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," _he chanted. _"Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."_

An uneasy silence settled on everyone. He had spoken in Latin again. I looked into the crowd and saw some people trying to translate lines."You just... finished the prophecy," Rachel stammered. _"- An oath to keep with a final breath. And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. _How did you-"

"I _know_ those lines." Jason winced and put his hands to his temples. "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

"In Latin, no less," Drew called out. "Handsome _and_ smart."

There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. Gods, what a bunch of _air-heads._ This time, it was my turn.

"Hey, Drew!" I stood up.

She turned to me and squinted. _"What,_ Summer?"

"Can you please be quiet?" I blurted without really thinking. Damn. I didn't wanna say anything bad in front of Chiron, but I also didn't want to sound like I was hopeless.

"Oh, _be quiet? _That's a first. Well, what are you gonna do about it, Summer? You gonna get magic-girl to make me look like a badger's face again? Because last time I checked, that was _so _this morning." The Aphrodite cabin all giggled, and a few other campers too.

"Brittany, just sit down," Annabeth hissed at me from the front. "You don't want to get in trouble tonight. _Any_ other night except tonight."

"What, why-"

"I'll explain later. Just sit down." I slowly sat back down, my arms crossed.

"Haha, that's what I thought, Summer." And the Aphrodite cabin cackled with laughter.

Piper put a hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off. The only thing that could comfort me right now, would be punching Drew in the face. Whilst all this was happening, I noticed that the campfire was burning a chaotic, nervous shade of green.

Jason sat back down, looking embarrassed. Poor guy.

Rachel still looked a little shaken. She glanced back at Chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn't interrupt - a tragedy with a lot of people dead onstage.

"Well," Rachel said, trying to regain her composure. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years to come, but I fear it's starting now. I can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The seven demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here."

Everyone began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a familiar drowsy voice in the crowd called out, "I'm here! Oh... were you calling the roll?"

"Go back to sleep, Clovis," someone yelled, and a lot of people laughed. Even I managed to crack a smile.

"Anyway," Rachel continued, "we don't know what the Great Prophecy means. We don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the_ first _Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the _second _Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad."

"Or worse," Chiron muttered.

Maybe he hadn't meant everyone to overhear, but they did. The campfire immediately turned dark purple.

"What we do know," Rachel said, "is that the first phrase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken."

Shocked silence. Then fifty demigods started talking at once. I looked over at Annabeth, and all she did was nod.

Chiron pounded his hoof again, but Rachel still had to wait before she could get back everyone's attention.

She told us about Jason, Piper and Leo's incident on the Grand Canyon Skywalk - how Gleeson Hedge, their satyr, had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits had attacked them, and that the storm spirits had warned them that it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who could destroy all demigods.

Then Rachel told everyone else about Piper's passing out in Hera's cabin. I saw that Piper was trying to keep a calm expression, especially when Drew was pantomiming a faint up in the back row, her friends giggling. Finally, Rachel told them about Jason's vision in the living room of the Big House. She turned to him..

"Jason," Rachel said. "Um... do you remember your last name?"

He looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.

"We'll just call you Jason, then," Rachel said. "It's clear Hera herself issued you a quest."

She paused, as if giving Jason a chance to protest his destiny. All eyes were on him. He set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."

"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil," Rachel continued. "Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

"That's the council day of the gods," I said. I don't know why, but I had to mention it.

"If the gods don't _already_ know Hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence then. They'll probably break out fighting, accusing one another of taking her. That's what they usually do." Said Annabeth.

"The winter solstice," Chiron spoke up, "is also the time of great darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. _Ancient_ magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things... stir."

The way he said it, stirring absolutely sounded sinister - like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.

"Okay," I said, "thank you, Captain Sunshine."

Annabeth glared at me as if to say, 'what did I tell you about not getting into trouble?'. "Whatever's going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so-"

"Why hasn't he been claimed?" somebody yelled from the Ares cabin. "If he's so important-"

"He has been claimed," Chiron announced. What on earth was he talking about? "Long ago. Jason, give them an example."

At first, Jason looked like he didn't seem to understand. He stepped forward nervously.

Jason reached into his pocket. His golden coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance - a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end.

The other demigods gasped. Even_ I _did. I stood up and walked to the front, next to Annabeth. We stepped back to avoid the point, which was as sharp as an ice pick.

"Wasn't that..." I hesitated. "I thought you had a sword."

"Um, it came up with tails, I think," Jason said. "Same coin, long-range weapon form."

"Dude, I want one!" shouted somebody from the Ares cabin.

"Yeah, better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" one of his brother's agreed.

"Electric," Jason murmured, as if it sounded like a good idea. "Back away."

Me, Rachel and Annabeth got the message. Jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. All the hairs on my arms stood straight up. Lightning arced down through the golden spear and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell.

When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in my ears had stopped, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. Cinders rained down everywhere. A burning log impaled itself a few inches from Clovis, who hadn't even stirred.

Jason lowered his lance. "Um... sorry."

Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He grimaced as if his worst fears had come true. "A little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. And I believe we all know who your father is."

"Jupiter," Jason said. "I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky."

"What? That's impossible." I blurted out, as everyone broke into chaos. Dozens of people were asking questions until Annabeth raised her arms.

"Hold it!" she said. "How can he be the son of Zeus? The Big Three... the pact not to have mortal kids... how could we not have known about him sooner?"

Chiron didn't answer, but I could tell that he knew. And the truth was not good.

"The important thing," Rachel said, "is that Jason is here now. He has a quest to fulfill, which means he will need his own prophecy."

She closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool. I could tell they had been trained for this. They eased Rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. Without the fire, the night was dark, but green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The sound that came out of her mouth was non-other than the spirit of Delphi.

_"Child of lightning, beware the earth. The giants' revenge the seven shall birth. The forge and dove shall break the cage. And death unleash through Hera's rage."_

On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.

"Is that normal?" Piper asked. Everyone looked at her. "I mean... does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy - Jason's prophecy to save Hera! Why don't you just-"

"Drew," Annabeth snapped before I could even open my mouth to retaliate. "Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy _definitely_ isn't normal."

"If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death... why would we free her? It might be a trap, or - or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers," I said.

"She's never been kind to her heroes," Annabeth said.

Jason rose. "I don't have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can't just _not_ help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."

Nyssa stood up amongst the Hephaestus cabin. "Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth and Brittany. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son - our dad - down a mountain just because he was ugly."

_"Real_ ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite.

"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we've also got to think - why beware the earth? And what's the giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's so powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

No one answered, but I saw Annabeth and Chiron having a silent exchange. I thought it went something like:

Annabeth: _The giants' revenge... no, it can't be._

Chiron:_ Don't speak of it here. Don't scare them._

Annabeth: _You're kidding me! We can't be that unlucky._

Chiron: _Later, child. If you told them everything, they would be too terrified to proceed._

I knew it was pretty cray-cray that I could read their expressions so well, but I've known them ever since I could remember, so...

Annabeth took a deep breath. "It's Jason's quest," she announced, "so it's Jason's choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. According to the tradition, he may choose two companions."

The familiar voice of Travis Stoll from Cabin Eleven yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You've got the most experience."

"No, Travis," Annabeth said. "First off, I'm _not_ helping Hera. Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to try and find Percy - and go to Mount Olympus."

"Wait, why - wait, what?" I stuttered. "Since when were you planning on going to Mount Olympus? I mean, I can understand the Percy part, but I thought Olympus was closed?"

"It is, but... I'll tell you later, I promise," said Annabeth.

"It's connected," Piper said, out of the blue. "You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your boyfriend's disappearance - it's all connected."

"How?" demanded Drew. "If you're so smart, how?"

I was legit, so frickin' close to losing control. I turned to Annabeth and hissed, "Annabeth, if that bitch does not shut up for the rest of this campfire, I swear to the gods; I will stick my sword up so far up her-"

"Brittany, _calm down. _Just lock it up for the next twenty-five minutes and then you can go rage-quit. In the meantime, please behave yourself," she muttered back.

Getting back to Piper's statement, I could tell she didn't know what to say to confront Drew, so thankfully Annabeth saved her. "You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I'll find out from the other end - by searching for Percy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise."

"It says who_ I _pick," said Jason. _"The forge and dove shall break the cage. _The forge is the symbol of Vul- Hephaestus."

Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry. "If you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid travelling overland. You'll need air transport."

"The flying chariot's broken," called out Will. Of course he would point that out.

"And the Pegasi, we're using them to search for Percy," said Butch, over from the Iris cabin. Well, he is our best equestrian, so he would know that.

Nyssa continued. "Maybe the Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest."

She didn't sound very enthusiastic.

Then Leo stood up. Wow, he'd been so quiet this whole time, I'd almost forgotten he was here.

"It's me," he said.

His cabin mates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted.

"No, it's me. I know it is. I've got an idea for the transportation dilemma. Let me try. I can fix this!"

Jason studied him for a moment. I was sure he was gonna tell Leo no. Then he smiled. "We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."

"Yes!" Leo pumped his fist.

"It'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned him. "Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive."

"Oh." Suddenly Leo didn't look so excited. Then he remembered everyone was watching. "I mean... Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."

Annabeth nodded. "Then Jason, you only need to choose a third quest member. The dove-"

"Oh, absolutely!" Oh Hades to the NO. Annabeth immediately glared my way, daring me to say a single word against Drew. The glamour princess was on her feet and flashed Jason a smile. "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am _totally_ yours."

I was seriously about to fly up there, and break her face, until Piper stepped forward. "No."

Drew rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Dumpster girl. Back off."

By now, I was literally shaking with rage, that Annabeth actually had to hold me down, so that I would stay still.

_"I_ had the vision of Hera; not you. I have to do this," said Piper.

"Anyone can have a vision," Drew said. "You were just at the right place at the right time." She turned to Jason. "Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things..." She looked at Leo in disdain. "Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need _charm_ on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."

_Ha_, sure she could. Bitch.

The other campers started murmuring about how Drew _was_ pretty. Huh, maybe she is pretty - pretty _ugly. _Obviously, Drew was winning them over. Even Chiron was scratching his beard, like Drew's participation suddenly made sense to him. Honestly, she wasn't affecting me, because right now, all I wanted to do was shut down because of how stupid she was.

"Well..." Annabeth said. "Given the wording of the prophecy-"

"No!" Piper's voice sounded strange when she said that. "I'm supposed to go."

Then the weirdest thing happened. Everyone started nodding, muttering that hmm, Piper's point of view made sense too. Drew looked around, incredulous. It was hilarious. Even some of her own campers were nodding.

"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"

I could see that Piper couldn't think of anything to say.

"Well," Drew said smugly, "I guess that settles it."

Then all of a sudden, everyone gasped. Even_ I _did. Everyone looked at Piper as a reddish glow surrounded her.

"What?" she demanded.

She looked up, as if expecting to see a flashing symbol above her head. She looked down and yelped.

Her clothes had changed. She was now adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, and had a V-neck. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. An intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest, and her hair was _way_ better than mine. Her hair was lush, long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder. She even wore make up.

"Oh, god," she said. "What's happened?"

She was... she was...

"Beautiful," Jason exclaimed. "Piper, you... you're a knockout."

I almost fell to the ground laughing when I saw that Drew's face was full of horror and revulsion. "No!" she cried. "Not possible!"

"This isn't me," Piper protested. "I- I don't understand."

Chiron folded his front legs and bowed to her, and everyone else, except for Piper, followed his example.

"Hail, Piper McLean," Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. "Daugher of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."

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><p><strong>End of the chapter! I know I usually update every night (in Australian times) but this time, I kinda slacked off a bit. But, not to worry! I am still updating every night. So, you can still look forward to an update. :)<strong>

**Anyways, please review, favourite, follow and share if you haven't already! (the gods would appreciate it)**

**Happy Reading! ;D**


	6. Family and Other Random Things

**Hey guys, sorry I didn't update in the past few days... I'm on holidays. I've lost track of time. I got super sidetracked with other... stuff, *cough* I was drawing *cough*. No, I'm not even kidding, I got carried away drawing some fan art to show one of my friends. When I showed her some pictures that I drew, all she said was 'DAYUM GIRL', so I just assumed that they were good, and I didn't totally waste my writing time. :s (plus my stupid technology wouldn't let me friggin' update until I tried over and over again)**

**So, basically this chapter is gonna be about Brittany, Brittany and more Brittany, so... just keep getting used to the name.**

**Anyways, this is me, Pinkbeauty63, telling _you_ to read. :)**

**WARNING: There is more swearing/cursing in this chapter, so just assume that the rest of the story will be like this. (Also, sorry if I may offend anyone. Just know, when this type of language is in a story, it's not intended towards the readers)**

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><p><span><strong>BRITTANY<strong>

**ME AND ANNABETH DIDN'T STAY BEHIND **after Piper turned into an Aphrodite chick. Sure, it was amazing and all - _she's got makeup! It's a miracle!_ - but I still needed Annabeth to tell me what was going on with this whole Olympus/Percy thing. See, not everyone has an Athena-like brain, Annabeth!

We made our way to my cabin, which was Cabin Seventeen - and we both sat down on my bunk.

My cabin was very... I don't know, victorious-looking? That's perhaps the only way to describe what it looks like. Almost everything was made up of marble and stone. The walls were made of polished obsidian. They had detailed carvings and illustrations of things that happened during the Trojan War or in some other historic battles. There was a life-size stone statue of Nike (I think it was supposed to be a replica from the Athena Parthenos) standing in front of the middle wall. My siblings and I put our medals, laurel wreaths, trophies, certificates and all that stuff on the shelves there, surrounding Nike. Yeah... we are really competitive.

We had a white, marble fireplace with a patterned metal grate that stopped the flames from spitting out. All our bunks were made of grey marble (yeah, if you were really drowsy one night and you couldn't find where you were walking, you would _not_ be safe with our sharp cornered bunks), with springy mattresses and feathered pillows (haha, children of Nike have feathered pillows). The flooring was split into halves: first marble and then the soft carpet. You didn't expect us to have just cold floors, right? That's insane.

Out of this entire cabin, only three other demigods live here, and two of them are fully related to me (don't ask why my mom got so attached to just one man, because I don't know). The other child of Nike is one of the youngest demigods at camp. And she is nine years old. _Nine_. How crazy is that? Her name is Skylynn (yeah, yeah, her name sounds like it has everything to do with the sky. Honestly, it's not even close to that), and she only came just a few months ago as an emergency arrival. She and her relatives were having a nice family gathering in the park when a few _empousai_ interrupted their picnic. Me, Clarisse and Annabeth had to go save her. Yay, girl-mission! Reason being, was because _empousai_ can charm males and then eat them. I think.

ANYWAYS, as for the other two half-bloods, they're both my full-related brother and sister. And they are the most competitive athletic-junkies ever. Easy enough to say, the brother is Joseph (Joe) and the sister is Katrina (Kat).

Let's start with good ol' Joe. All the girls fawn over my brother. It's so annoying. Sometimes, I get girls running up to me saying, "Hey, can you get me your brother's autograph!?" or "OMG, can you tell me where he hangs out? I promise I won't follow him to the bathroom!" or even "Do you know what themed boxers he wears to bed? Because if so, I'm gonna make that my bedcovers!" THEY ARE SO ANNOYING.

You know, everyone thinks that Joe looks like a beautiful, masculine, majestic angel that just flew down from the heavens with his chiseled jawline and ivory wings. I, on the other hand, thinks he looks like a fully-grown mountain troll (you know the one from Harry Potter? Yep, that's the one). But of course, no one likes to think the way I do. Let's just get into his appearance before anyone else dies of trying to imagine his beauty. Joe has closely cropped caramel blonde hair which went well with his tanned skin (but in the winter, his skin goes pale, so it makes him look weird). Like I said, he has the muscles, which you just can't get enough of, because he hardly wears a shirt. Ever. It's complicated to explain what shirts he wears because he's a son of Nike. Oh, and one last thing: he has a pretty face. Did I mention that? So, from time to time, you'd either see Joe hanging out with girls, or he'd be running away from them.

But honestly, don't let his appearance fool you. Sure, he's a nice guy in general, but when it comes to siblings... it's war. But - that's something I'd prefer _not_ to share. My family's embarrassing enough as it is. (Not really including the Olympians, but they can be pretty embarrassing as well)

Now, moving on towards my sister. Let me just tell you a little something about Kat: she's _always_ angry. Like, no for real, I swear she's the Hulk in disguise. She's almost never in a good mood, which really, really sucks dip-sticks. Of course, like my brother, her looks can be deceiving. So, just to make this clear: the three of us are all blonde, so it's okay for you to laugh at my face if I make a really poop mistake about mythology and stuff (no offense to any other blondes out there).

Kat has yellowy blonde hair (like, I'm not even kidding. That stuff could've made out with sun... hopefully it hasn't), fair skin, nice pointed features and she's always seen wearing red lipstick. She usually wears a strapless/backless Camp Half-Blood T-shirt like me. If we didn't, whenever we'd spread our wings, they would just go willy-nilly and rip our shirts off. Now, _that_ is embarrassing (shut up, it only happened once).

I think if my sister were any nicer than she already isn't, she'd probably be friends with Drew... I should be thankful that she's such a cow. But seriously, my sister is a _bitch_. She treats herself likes she's the hierarchy of the entire camp (excluding Chiron, of course). Nobody knows when she's gonna to stop and retire from being such a boob (yeah, that somehow worked its way into my everyday vocabulary. I'm weird).

Anyways, you're probably thinking: 'Who's the oldest out of you guys?' and 'When is all this useless crap gonna end up helping me in life?'. Well, I'll answer your first question: the oldest in our cabin, is Kat. Yeah, I know. It's frickin' terrible. But at least I'm not the youngest anymore. Because Kat's the oldest, that means she's automatically head counselor for our cabin. Of course, Joe duelled Kat many times for the spot, but the fights always ended up either being a tie, or it was getting toward that point where the two were about to kill each other. Nice. And to answer your second question: no, this will not help you later in life, so be quiet.

Oh, and uh, one more thing before we get back to the story: Joe and Kat are twins. I still love them both equally, but they still irritate the Hades out of me (plus, that makes their head counselor fights even more stupid than they already are).

So, now that you know how sucky my life is, we'll just get straight into what Annabeth was in my cabin to talk to me about.

"So. What's all this Olympus stuff about?" I asked. "Everyone knows that the gods closed the gates, Annabeth."

"I know. But, literally just last night, Chiron got a letter from my mom. And I guess it's from yours, too," Annabeth explained.

"So, what? Chiron's just getting letters from the gods now?" I said. "Since when did Chiron get letters?"

Annabeth shook her head at my head-thickness. "That's what you're concerned about? What about noticing the fact that our mom's decided to send Chiron a letter concerning us?"

I thought about that for a moment. Athena and Nike were, I guess you could say: the best of friends. They were practically salt and pepper. Put them together, and they can create some pretty kick-ass flavour.

"Well, do you have the letter or do we have to go see Chiron?" I asked.

"I've got it," Annabeth got out a folded piece of parchment from one of her shorts' pockets and handed it to me. Why she would keep a godly note in her pocket, I don't know why.

I unfolded the letter and read it aloud:

_"Dear Chiron,_

_I know how hard running a camp by yourself must be, along with the help of a few young counselors. But unfortunately, I will have to ask this of you: please send mine and Nike's daughters to Mount Olympus by the winter solstice council meeting. I trust that you know who I'm writing about. The pair may bring one other demigod on their way to Olympus, since this imploration is only but a mission, but is just as challenging as a quest._

_Please note that their third companion must not be a current resident at Camp Half-Blood. They must choose from one of their searchers for that... son of Poseidon. See to it that they choose wisely. Things up on Mount Olympus are getting too dangerous for the mortal world to see._

_Hoping you are well,_

_Lady Athena, the goddess of Wisdom._

_P.S. Nike is hoping that her children's wings are doing fine since their claiming took place."_

Wow. I never knew that Athena kept her writing so... modern. Well, at least it was written in Greek (obviously, you guys are reading it in English).

"So... whilst we're out trying to find Percy, we've gotta find a third companion?" I sighed, looking over at Annabeth, who was leaning on my polished bedstead.

"Yeah. I was kinda thinking we'd get-"

"Thalia," I answered for her.

"Mm hmm. But then, I guess she'd be pretty busy, what with searching for Percy _and _being a lieutenant for Artemis," Annabeth said.

"Well, then; Grover's kinda busy being a member of that Cloven Elders thingy, and Tyson is well... he's Tyson," I said, trying not to have sounded mean because he's Percy's half-brother.

"So that only leaves..." Annabeth started.

"... Nico." I said.

"Britt, I know that you and Nico are like, BFF's or whatever, but... he just creeps me out. A bit." said Annabeth.

"Yeah, but, he's a pretty decent companion; plus he's not busy or anything. We can just pick him up and go. Drive-thru style," I then imagined what an actual drive-thru would be like:

_"Hi, welcome to the Underworld. How may I take your order?"_

_"Oh, hi there. Um... can I please get a double cheeseburger and a coke? Oh, and can I also get a side of Nico di Angelo? 'Kay, thanks."_

My little vision stopped when Annabeth snapped her fingers under my nose.

"Wh-what?" I stuttered, realizing that Annabeth was still here. "What were we talking about?"

"About taking Nico on our mission," Annabeth said.

"Oh, yeah. We can take him. He's a smart kid. Plus, any person I've done a dance number with, I've got on speed dial," I said. Annabeth looked at me in shock.

Look, I don't mean for you guys to start shouting, 'WTF! Nico did a dance number?!' Just calm down for a minute. I'll explain: I'm a dancer. I'm what you call in high school, 'one of those performing arts kids'. Yeah, yeah; I sing, I dance and I act. Big deal. A child of Nike is a prancy performer.

See, I was planning on doing a dance to this song called 'Lip Gloss' by Lil Mama (if you happen to know that song, honestly, you are a legend). Thing was, the school I was attending had a great number of dancers, but a majority of them were girls. I really wanted to try out the song with a boy (of course, it was a funny idea at the time. It's a sassy song). And it just so happened, that none of the boys plucked up the courage to dance with me, or they were afraid I'd take away their 'spotlight'. Coincidentally, Nico di Angelo went to the same school as me at the time (I don't know. I thought he would've gone to a school in LA, but apparently not).

To shorten things up, me and Nico made a pact that if no one from Camp Half-Blood made fun of him for doing the sass-dance with me, he said that we would end up being pretty great pals (Shh! Don't tell anybody). I know, that sounds pretty sugar-coated for a son of Hades, but what else was he gonna do? Watch me pout and cry because I didn't make it into the choreography team? Now, _that's_ shallow, even for him. So luckily, we both agreed.

MOVING ON, Annabeth considered my opinion on the whole 'pick a third wheel' sitch.

She heaved a deep sigh, and said, "I guess he's our only option then. Although, I don't think we can go to the Underworld. If we go there, we may or may not be able to get out. Nico would have to vouch for us and convince Hades to let us go. And plus, Nico can't shadow travel with people. I think. It'll tire him out if he tried."

"True," I said. "We could try Iris-messaging him, though. I don't know if we'd be able to do that when Nico's all the way in the Underworld. But if we succeed, we can tell him to just shadow travel himself to somewhere in Central Park, or whatever."

"That's - ...actually not a bad idea," Annabeth said. "Not something that I would've thought of first, since my thoughts are more complex than yours - no offense! But, if it works, we'll have Nico as a companion. If it doesn't... you'll just have to bear with me and take Tyson."

"Your mom said to choose wisely. Make sure you _stay_ wise, Owl Head," I said.

"Don't worry, I will. And don't forget," Annabeth said, "we're trying to find Percy along the way, okay?"

"Yip," I replied, as Annabeth got up from my bunk. "I hope you're going back to your cabin to do some strategizing."

"Then, Brittany; what will _you_ be doing while I'm figuring this out?" Annabeth asked.

"Me? I'm gonna catch me some z's," Annabeth glared at me. "And I might Iris-message Nico in the morning, or something. I'll try and wake up early enough to make some rainbows."

"Sure, sure," Annabeth said, walking to the door. "Well, see you in the morning. Chances are, I'll come barging into your cabin telling you to wake up."

"Haha. So funny. Byee." Hey, she's done it to me before. Only last time, she doused me with a bucket of water. And Percy was filming the whole damn thing.

After Annabeth left, I went to the bathroom to go have a shower and brush my teeth. Damn, I looked gross. Not long after that: Kat, Joe and Skylynn came in from the campfire... or suspiciously, a really long walk... or talk - a walk _and_ talk! Yeah, I'm getting really tired. I was surprised to see that Skylynn came in so late. It was like, 10:30pm already.

"What took _you_ guys so long?" I asked, already lying in my bed, resting my hands behind my head.

"Well, Chiron kept us behind to give us a big, long chat about you and Annabeth leaving camp tomorrow," Joe said. He took off his shirt, letting his wings spread out and stretch. He _had_ been flying around a lot today. Probably tried to show off to a group of girls, I don't know. All I knew, is that Joe smelled gross. Like man-sweat and horse poop. I think he may have been on stable-cleaning duty. He thinks he's such a badass.

"Yeah. What about me leaving? You gonna miss me?" I asked, as Joe ignored my question and went to go take a shower. Good idea, buddy.

_"I'll _miss you, Britt-Britt," Skylynn said, jumping onto my bed. Dammit. These sheets were clean.

"Aw, I'll miss you too, Skylynn," I didn't want to get myself dirty and get little kid cooties, so I just gave her a light hug.

I then noticed that one voice in the room hadn't spoken yet.

"Hey Kat. You've been awfully quiet since you came in," I said, looking over at my sister, who hadn't said one conniving thing since she arrived. She didn't speak up _at all _during the campfire, either, which was odd because she always has such a loud mouth.

Well, whatever the case, she didn't answer me. She just kept taking bits of her armour off and hung them on her bedstead.

"Kat, what's-"

"Don't do anything you'll regret whilst you're at Olympus," Kat said grimly. Well... _that's_ a first.

"What exactly, is your definition of dangerous?" I asked, feeling über confused.

"Just don't make any promises to the Styx while you're there. Even if Mom happens to be around," she explained.

"Do I have to... swear on the Styx for that, or..." I started.

"No. Just don't do it," Kat replied.

Well, that advice didn't really help because I still didn't know what the heck she was trying to tell me.

Although, the one thing that I understood was the River Styx part. I never really make any oaths to the Styx because you know... Styx is the mom of Nike... which means Styx could only be my grandmother.

Now, I know what you're thinking: how on Gaia's face could a river be my grandmother? Easy. You see, there was this thing called an ancient myth (well, story in my case); that Styx had four children with a certain Titan called Pallas when she was still a nymph. Those children were Nike (Victory), Zelos (Rivalry), Bia (Force) and Kratos (Strength). Zeus had granted her a great gift by turning her into the all-powerful River Styx of Hate, that nowadays, flows through the Underworld. Pretty neat, huh? So... I don't think she could've conceived anymore children as a river.

So yeah, I guess my family is pretty old. And has a really dark past. But I still don't know what the big deal was with my sister. She looked all panicky, as if she was worried I was gonna die right then and there.

"Um, Kat, I'd be at _Mount Olympus._ You know, I'd be in the presence of the almighty _gods_. I'm pretty sure I'd be safe there," I said reassuringly, making Skylynn get off my bed.

"Just, if you end up doing any favours for the gods - make sure you're prepared," Kat said.

"Kat! Can you please stop talking in riddles? You're starting to sound like Rachel when she said that prophecy. Look, I promise I won't do anything rash, or any other stupid things you think I'd do," I said.

But before I could get an answer out of her, she ignored me, and 'fell asleep' in her bunk.

Skylynn made herself comfortable in her own bed too, before saying nighty-night, and started snoring.

The last person to make it to bed was Joe, who didn't smell like poop anymore.

The both of us had to share a bunk, and since he was older, he took topsies. I don't know why he didn't share a bunk with Kat. I think it's because Kat's head counselor, and she's responsible for anything that happens to Skylynn... like wetting the bed. But that's another story.

Once Joe got into bed, he suddenly started talking to me.

"Hey, sis," he said quietly, but loud enough for me to hear. "Does this mission thing mean that you're gonna meet Mom up there? At Olympus, I mean?"

I hadn't really thought about my mom that much since she claimed us (even though I give her burnt offerings at every meal and there's a life-size statue that's the center of attention in our cabin). I mean, of _course_ I've thought about my godly parent from time to time. Who doesn't?

"Um, I don't know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see, won't I?" I said.

"Well, if you do, can you tell her that..." Joe said. I could sense he was trying not to sound like a wuss.

"Tell her what?"

"Tell her... that I'm proud to be her son," he finished. I could tell that he was scared of admitting that, even in front of _me_. I guess I knew how he was feeling. Us Nike campers, we walk around with a lot of pride on our chests. One time, it got close to me wearing a shirt that said 'VICTORY' written in neon pink. Thankfully that never happened.

I slowly answered back, "Don't worry, I will." And before I knew it, Joe began snoring. Way louder than Skylynn.

* * *

><p>I drifted off to sleep, and this was what I dreamt of: a guy. With me. On a date. Now, I know what you're gonna say, 'Ew! Brittany dreams about boys, gross!' Seriously, if you're gonna be like that, go join the Hunters of Artemis. At least you'll be appreciated there. And girls, let me ask you a question: when was the last time you dreamt about a guy? He was probably doing <em>way<em> more than just sitting with you on a date... but that's none of _my_ business (cue Kermit the frog sipping Lipton tea).

Anyways, let me get back to my dream. This guy was frickin' gorgeous, like, he was _hot_ - except for the fact that my dream decided to conceal his face. Bummer. But what I could see, was his sunshine golden hair. It kind've reminded me of Kat's hair color, except his was way better. Apart from my dream being a big turd, and not allowing me to see mystery-man's face, I could identify an obvious pair of Ray Bans. Hey, I have a weird fetish for those glasses, so he could've been anyone.

Before anything else could happen, I felt someone knocking their knuckles on my forehead. I woke up to see Annabeth. Oh, lovely.

"Brittany! Get up already! You should be thankful that I went and packed some stuff for you," Annabeth said in an audible whisper.

"Okay, fine. What time is it?" I asked in a dazed tone. That must've been a short sleep. Or dream.

"Early enough for you to get off your butt, and go have a shower," Annabeth responded, as I got up and stumbled my way to the bathroom. Gosh, Owl Head can be so pushy sometimes.

Ten minutes later, when I got out of the shower lookin' all fresh and clean, I spotted Annabeth sitting outside on the porch of my cabin, Iris-messaging Nico.

"Nico, come on, we need your help. Brittany's being picky about the people we choose for this mission, which means that you're our only wise-enough option," said Annabeth.

"As much as I'd like to say I am _not_ being picky, Annabeth, I have been fairly judgemental about our other choices," I chipped in, and sat down next to Annabeth with a full view of the Underworld. "Oh, hey Nico."

"Hi. So, let me get this straight: you two want me to go on this little mission-quest thing with you, which ends up with us going to Mount Olympus?" Nico asked.

"Yes," me and Annabeth said simultaneously.

Nico heaved a deep sigh before he answered, "Fine. But on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Annabeth asked.

"After we have our attempts at finding Percy," Nico said. "We go to Mount Olympus, storm into that throne room, and give Hera a little piece offering we know we've been wanting to give her for a _long_ time."

I cracked up laughing at the idea. Even if I do end up getting vaporized afterwards, it's all about the reactions. You know how amused I got when Drew almost threw up at the sight of Piper. I almost died trying to keep in my laughter.

"So... I'm guessing this is gonna be one _Hades_ of a trip then, huh?" I asked.

Annabeth and Nico shared a look through the Iris-message before turning back to me.

"Sure..." they both said.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of the chapter, guys! Again, I'm so sorry for the late upcoming of this chapter, and you guys probably want to get to the part where an actual adventure starts. Honestly, I do not blame you for wishing such things.<strong>

**So, I will update very soon (sooner than you think) and I hope you liked this chapter.**

**Happy Reading, guys! ;D**

**P.S. Please review, favourite and follow. (I think I'm turning into an attention whore...) It would mean a lot. And yes, of course, you can criticize how lame or good or cliché this story is, or even if I seem to have gotten something wrong in the history of Nike. Really, it depends on the type of person you are. So, keep that in mind! *thumbs up***


	7. The Mission Starts

**BRITTANY**

**"S****O, NICO'S MEETING US AT ****C****ENTRAL ****P****ARK?" **Brittany asked, as her and Annabeth, packed and ready for their mission, started walking through the green of Greek Row. Before Annabeth could answer, they both saw a dragon swoop down from the sky.

"Is that Leo?" Brittany asked, shielding her eyes from the sun to get a better look.

"It's very likely," Annabeth answered as she did the same so she could see.

And sure enough, there was Leo, sitting atop that giant bronze death machine, grinning like a lunatic. Before he landed, the camp alarm went up. The conch horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming, "Don't kill me!" About half of the other campers ran outside of their cabins in a mixture of pyjamas and armour. Annabeth drew her bronze knife, as Brittany drew her bronze sword, _νικηφόρα _- "Victorious" - and they expected to put up a fight with the mechanical beast.

The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

The archers lowered their bows in hesitation. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped through the windows. No one seemed anxious to come close.

The dragon was huge. It glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture - different shades of copper and bronze - a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.

Piper was outside amongst the rest, as they all heard her mutter, "It's beautiful." Everyone else stared at her as if she'd gone nuts.

The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo just slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted.

"That's great, Leo," said Brittany. "But can you tell us what you've done with that thing? It looks like you've been rolling around in the fire!"

A few people snickered, forgetting the seriousness of the situation.

Leo's army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily, it stuck up like porcupine quills, and he smelled curiously of Tabasco sauce. But on the whole, he looked purely delighted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" Clarisse from Ares shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" someone ordered.

To everyone's surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth, Brittany, and Nyssa.

Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in what seemed to be amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"

"It - has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked as if it might drop off her face.

"Yeah! I found them and reattached them," said Leo.

"Yeah, what are you saying, Nyssa? You got something against wings?" Joe spoke up, who was standing beside Clarisse, holding his own spear.

Nyssa immediately blushed at being addressed by Brittany's brother. "Um, no... - uh - never mind that. Where did you find the wings, Leo? It never had them."

Leo hesitated, and Brittany could tell that he was hiding something.

"In... the woods," he said. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid - maybe oil, _hopefully_ just oil - poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks I gotta work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive...?" asked Annabeth, staring at the creature in disbelief. "I mean, the fire breath..."

"I'm quick," Leo said. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy', right? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the - um, woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just-"

"Go," said Brittany and Annabeth in unison. They seemed to be the only ones who didn't look nervous at all. Annabeth's expression was sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. Brittany, on the other hand, had that same competitive glint in her eyes, which sort of came naturally.

"Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now," Annabeth said.

"And you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting," said Brittany.

"This is certainly a good omen. Go!" Annabeth said.

Jason nodded. He then smiled over at Piper. "You ready, partner?"

Piper looked at the bronze dragon wings shining against the sky, and those talons that could've easily torn her to shreds.

"You bet," she said.

~Line Break~

"So, Nico's meeting us at Central Park?" Brittany asked, as everyone around her and Annabeth watched as Jason, Leo and Piper took off to the sky on Festus.

"Yep. And we'd better get a move on if we wanna get there on time," Annabeth answered, gesturing for them to leave the crowd.

All their stuff was ready and packed for them to go. The only thing that they had to do now was say sayonara and leave. They quickly made their way to the Big House, eager to get this done.

They arrived to see Chiron and a few other camp counselors, standing or sitting in the living room. The counselors present consisted of Kat, Connor and Travis, Will, Clarisse, Nyssa, Lou Ellen, Butch, Miranda (Katie Gardner was only a summer camper), and even Clovis and Pollux made it.

Chiron was first to step forward. "Annabeth, Brittany," he nodded to each of the two. "I am trusting that you both know the risks you are about to take in honor of the Olympians - and the finding of Percy Jackson?"

"Yes," Annabeth answered.

"No..." Brittany said slowly.

"Um, Brittany... the only risks you need to worry about are your wings getting plucked feather-by-feather from a monster, and getting vaporized by a god for having such a sarcastic mouth," said Annabeth, as a few counselors snickered.

"Well, I literally only found out about this mission _last night._ How am I supposed to know that none of what you just said is or isn't gonna happen?" Brittany argued back.

"Um, guys," Travis interrupted. "I really hate to burst your bubble, but you only have three days until the winter solstice now, and you haven't even left camp yet." Everyone looked surprised at Travis. Usually he always kept quiet in these situations, or pulled a prank on someone. Not today.

"Right," said Annabeth, giving Brittany a 'it's your fault for wasting our time' look. "We should get going."

"Well, heroes, as soon as you say your goodbyes, you will be off with Argus. He will be making sure you make it into Manhattan safely. If you wish to say anymore, you are welcome to," Chiron said, stepping aside so that the two girls could say goodbye to their counselors.

The first person that Brittany went up to was Kat, of course. And for the first time in forever, her older sister actually gave her a hug. Like, an actual family, loving, caring, friendly and genuine hug. It felt so strange.

"Be safe, okay?" Kat muttered, holding on to her little sister for as long as she could. "Be good. And if you can't be good-"

"-be good at it," Brittany finished. It was a little thing that her family used to say to each other along with their dad, when they used to believe that mottos were actually cool. Too bad that had to change.

Kat then let go of her. There wasn't a trace of tears on her face, but everyone could tell that she had a soft-spot for her family. Brittany went to say goodbye to the others, as did Annabeth. Britt was also very thankful that Drew wasn't there, or else she would've left in the blink of an eye (which honestly would've left a lot of people pissed). Seriously, all these people with her now, were her best friends and if anything bad were to happen to them, she'd pretty much face a much worse destiny than theirs.

As everyone finished saying farewell, Chiron told the pair that they'd better leave. He tried not to make it sound forceful, yet he wanted them to hurry before time ran out.

"May the gods be with you - soon," he said, watching the duo get into the camp's white SUV that took heroes out of camp through to Manhattan. Chiron and the counselors waved, as they saw two of their dearest friends send their lives away on a journey that would be tough to accomplish, especially with a length of three days to complete it.

* * *

><p>Annabeth sat in the front with Argus, studying structure-things on her Daedalus laptop, whilst Brittany sat in the back, listening to music on her iPod.<p>

Brittany felt extremely bored during the drive. She didn't even want to contemplate what she was going to do at Mount Olympus.

The gods closed Olympus for a reason, yet they were willing to accept three demigods to go to their winter solstice meeting. It was hard to admit, but Brittany was actually half scared of meeting the gods again. Yeah, she's met them twice before, but this time, it wouldn't be the same. She was pretty sure that if her mother was at Mount Olympus, she'd be there because she'd done something wrong.

She was definite that not all of the gods appreciated her being a child of Nike. Even people at camp didn't like her just because she belonged to Nike. See, Nike is the goddess of victory, and that always means there's a competition involved somewhere. But yet, humanity loves victory, and so they must still worship the goddess somehow; somewhere.

Brittany sat in the back of the vehicle in silence, staring out the window, listening to 'So Yesterday' by Hilary Duff. No, she usually doesn't listen to her very often, but it reminded her of Grover's version he used to play on his reed pipes. The emotions of that memory were delicate, because that memory was from a delicate time, when there were no quests, no missions, and no lost heroes. It saddened Brittany to think that everything would finally be the way it was supposed to be after a huge Titan War, just so it could get followed on by some 'Prophecy of Seven'.

_What a load of Minotaur-crap, _another part of her mind thought. _If it's a Prophecy of Seven, then it most certainly doesn't include me. I frickin' hate odd numbers._

People would always refer to Brittany as Camp Half-Blood's 'Guardian Angel'. Yes, there was still Kat, Joe and maybe Skylynn to choose for that title, but Brittany always ended up taking the name. Kat either had better names to be called such as snob, bitch, loud-mouth, etc., so she was out of the question. Joe just seemed too irresponsible for the job, although he certainly looked the part. And, Skylynn was just much too young to be a guardian angel. Brittany didn't even know if being a guardian angel actually meant anything, or if it was just a really bad pun for her wings. She at least wanted a cooler name, like maybe... 'Victory Runner' or something. Something that doesn't sound like it comes out of _Supernatural_.

Anyways, about half an hour had gone by and of course, Brittany fell asleep. Argus was still driving, keeping all eyes on the road and Annabeth doing smart stuff on her laptop.

This time, Brittany dreamed about being atop the light heaven of Mount Olympus, staring at the city of New York down below. Hopefully this was just a dream, because she was _not _ready to be up here yet.

She was pacing back and forth, apparently pondering about something, whilst playing around with her iPod. Angry Birds really was interesting.

Suddenly, behind her, a male voice cleared their throat, making her jump. Brittany spun around to see to her surprise, the messenger of the gods: Hermes.

"Herm- uh- Lord Hermes," Brittany stuttered, bowing slightly, thinking immediately that this can't be a dream. This was more like a vision. Strange, seeming that she was interacting with it, not just seeing it for what it was. "Um... what brings you here?"

"No need to bow. I'm just here to send a message from someone," Hermes said, not even greeting her with a, 'Hey, how's it going? I can totally explain why I'm here.' or 'I'm gonna steal your wallet now.' He raised his hand as if he were going to recite a poem.

"Trust me, this is a coded message. I'm sure you'll know what it is when you hear it." And before Brittany could say anything further, Hermes began rhyming the words:

"The sun goes down,

The stars come out,

And all that counts is here and now,

My universe will never be the same,

I'm glad you came,

I'm glad you came."

"Um... I'm pretty sure you just said some lyrics from a song," Brittany mustered, not knowing what to say about the message she just received. "Are you sure this message was supposed to be sent to me, or...?"

"Miss Summer, I never deliver to the wrong address. As I said before, this is a coded message, so I believe you are expected to figure it out yourself. The only clue I can give you, is that this was from no stranger."

And just like that, Hermes walked past Brittany like a boss, and before she could turn around, he was gone.

As soon as Brittany started to say her next sentence, she felt someone shaking her shoulders. Apparently, Brittany had fallen asleep with her earphones in, with 'I'm Glad You Came' by the The Wanted playing on her iPod. She didn't know why she owned that song.

"I hate The Wanted!" Brittany blurted out, opening her eyes to see the face of Annabeth attempting to wake her up, the second time that day.

"Okay... not exactly the reaction I would've expected from you, but... good news is - we're here!" Annabeth said, pulling Brittany's earphones out from her ears.

"M'kay... what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is, Nico might be a little drained from his shadow-travel," Annabeth pointed towards the familiar pale figure of Nico di Angelo, resting underneath the shade of a green poplar tree - well, what _used _to be a green poplar tree. It's green leaves were now all wilted, and branches were falling off due to the presence of the son of Hades.

Annabeth pulled up her friend from the backseat of the car, and they both waved goodbye to Argus. He blinked his eyes in unison (which is quite disturbing if you knew what a thousand eyes blinking at the same sounds like) and left as if nothing had ever happened.

"Well, that's helpful. How long until we can get on with the mission?" Brittany asked, walking over to Nico, trying to make his resting look as casual as possible. Mortals passing by must've just thought that Nico played a hardcore game of baseball in the park and just started sleeping under a tree. Brittany sat down next to him, feeling his forehead.

"Well, Nico did travel all the way from the Underworld, so I can estimate about four hours rest, at least," Annabeth answered, leaning on the tree, looking off into the bright sunny sky.

"So, what are we gonna do whilst Nico's snoring his head off? Twiddle our thumbs until midday?"

"I can go get us some breakfast. You can stay here with Nico. Make sure he doesn't get swatted by some tree nymphs for killing one of their homes."

"'Das cool. But are you really sure you want to go alone? I don't wanna risk anything."

"Well, we can't just leave Nico here. What if he gets eaten by a monster? The mortals will get suspicious and think he's some poor homeless boy."

"What about you? What if-"

"Brittany, I assure you, I will not get thrown off-course by a monster whilst getting fast food. That would be a pretty embarassing way to die." And without another word, Annabeth walked off to the nearest McDonald's joint.

"Great," Brittany muttered, her stomach grumbling like crazy. She watched as a butterfly fell to the ground, landing somewhere near Nico's head. Ah... the perks of having a sense of dead people about you.

Brittany sat in silence, watching the scenery do its thing in the park, silently singing the song 'If I Lose Myself' by OneRepublic. She didn't know why that song popped into her head at that time, she just thought it was good. She also didn't know what was with her big obsession with music at the moment. Yes, everyone loves to listen to some music sometimes/all the time, but today felt weird. Maybe it was just the fact that she was on a split mission and she had nothing else to do except listen to Nico snore.

Whatever it was, it was making her lose focus. And that's something that you definitely should _not _do on mission.

* * *

><p><strong>Sup guys! Wow, you all probably hate me by now. I must admit, my hiatus for this fic was pretty long, but it didn't mean I wasn't gonna come back.<strong>

**So, I am finally back into writing after my really long holiday of school assessments (yay!) and now I can continue with this story that nobody really reads, but I'll update anyways.**

**Also, I know this may sound REALLY cray-cray, but I have... *drum roll* COME UP WITH A SEQUEL FOR THIS STORY!... *awkward silence* Wow, if I already came up with a sequel, I should **_**really **_**get a move on. :s**

**But, not to worry, I have it planned out already, so the sequel won't take as long as this story to write. I've got all the ideas and stuff for this story (the one that you're reading), I just need to stop being lazy and put it in words.**

**GETTING BACK TO THE POINT, I'm glad to be back on , if you follow this story, or me, I have updated my profile, so you can go check that out!**

**Please READ, REVIEW & REMEMBER, and be excited for the future chapters to come. **

**Happy Reading! ;D**


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